Credit: Twitter
Orlando City coach Oscar Pareja was furious with the refereeing decisions in his team's 3-1 defeat to Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup on Wednesday. The Colombian tactician claimed that Lionel Messi should have been sent off and accused the officials of turning the match into "a circus".
Inter Miami, led by Messi, who scored two goals, dominated the game from the start and took the lead in the seventh minute. Orlando City pulled one back in the 17th minute through Julian Araujo and the game at the time was in balance. The Argentine was all fired up in the physical game as they tried to push through.
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The first incident occurred in the 19th minute when, in an effort to quickly take the ensuing free kick following a handball by Wilder Cartagena, Messi shoved the Orlando midfielder. A little over a minute later, Messi accidentally collided with Cartagena from behind, earning him the game's first booking.
Pareja said that Messi deserved a second yellow card for his involvement in the scuffle as the Orlando manager said, "There are a couple of plays that are double yellows, with Leo, I don't care if it's him but it has to be judged just the same as everybody else. Things have to be fair, and what happened on the pitch was not like that. It's a circus."
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Pareja also criticized the referee on the penalty awarded to Miami in the 51st minute, saying, "It's a very clear dive and very easy to see, because a few years ago they didn't have the possibility of having referees to help them, but today they didn't even consider that."
Josef Martinez converted the penalty to make it 2-1 for Inter Miami, and Messi scored his second goal in the 72nd minute to seal the win for his team. Inter Miami advanced to the round of 16 of the Leagues Cup where they will face FC Dallas on Sunday, August 6.
